The Hidden Princess: Finding Hope (Book One)

Chapter Seven: You Want To Be A Dragon? (e)

"Dad, come quick there is someone in the water." I hear a male voice calling from somewhere in the distance. I hear splashing then moments later I feel strong arms being wrapped around my body, then I am being pulled out of the river.

"How long had I been floating?" I wondered as I forced my eyes to blink open. I looked up into the face of my rescuer; he was a boy, somewhere around Chloe's age I assume.

"You're going to be okay," he said quietly as he climbed up the rivers bank to the place where a man was standing next to a wagon. The man quickly got a blanket from the back and wrapped it around me. I hadn't noticed how cold it was until he put the blanket on me, my body had grown numb to the water.

"Get into the wagon and keep her close, she needs all the warmth she can get," the man said, helping the boy climb into the back. Why had I been in the river? I was with my family, having my birthday picnic... oh that's right the bandits came... Tears began to slip down my cheeks as I remembered all that had happened in that short period of time.

"It's going to be alright," the boy said, bringing me a bit closer. At first I stiffened in the arms of the stranger, but soon I started to relax from the warmth that his body gave off. I didn't say anything, I couldn't say anything. My body was too weak. I looked up at the sky and saw the sun was almost gone. That means I had been floating in the river for at least a few hours. How far had I gone from my home? I shook my head slightly, now was not the time to think of those things.

I prepared myself to speak to the boy holding me. "Where are we?" I managed to croak out, but before I could listen to his response I blacked out. The next thing I knew I was lying in a small room with a girl around my age laying a damp rag over my forehead. We sat in silence staring at each other for a few minutes before the boy who had pulled me from the river walked in.

"Is she awake?" the boy asked, then turned and smiled at me, he strolled over and stood beside the girl. "Hello there," he said.

"Hi," I said in a shaky voice. "Where am I?" I asked again. The boy pulled up a chair and after spinning it around, sat down and leaned on the back rest.

"You are in our humble little home. The closest village is Hillsdale, which is about ten miles from us. My names Peter by the way," he said.

"Where are you from?" the girl asked as she filled a cup with water and was about to hand it to me, but then pulled back. "You should sit up first," she said. I nodded and with the help of Peter and the girl, whose name I still did not know, I managed to sit up so my back was against the wall.

"So where are you from?" the girl re-asked.

"Before we get into that. How about we find out each other's names," Peter said, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh right," the girl agreed. "My name's Ally, I'm thirteen," she said then turned to Peter. "And he's eighteen." she added then looked over at me.

"Oh, my name's Sam... I just turned fourteen yesterday." I said quietly.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Peter asked, a bit confused.

"It should be..." I said quietly. "But my birthday wasn't a happy one," I said tears threatened to spill.

Ally reached out and grabbed my hand. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Does the unhappiness have something to do with us finding you in the river?" Peter asked.

I slowly nodded. "Yes, yes it does," I said, taking a deep breath, not really sure if I would be able to make it through the story without breaking down crying. "I come from Hillsdale... This afternoon our village was attacked by bandits and they... they burned everything and killed everyone," I managed to say before the tears started to pour from my eyes. "I am the only one who made it, well at least I'm pretty sure..." I said, then stopped for a few moments as I sobbed. Ally climbed onto the bed and pulled me into a hug letting my cry on her shoulder. "My sister was not killed but she was captured... I don't... she can't have survived," I whispered between sobs.